Wednesday, January 29, 2014

THEATER

"Before we invented civilization our ancestors lived mainly in the open under the sky. Before we devised artificial lights and atmospheric pollution and modern forms of nocturnal entertainment we watched the stars."

Carl Sagan

A Marbled Godwit and a Whimbrel, shore birds native to Michigan, stand rapt in wonder, watching the night sky. It is their theater. The darkness is filled not only with stars but birds and butterflies that aspire to be equally as beautiful. This is part of the Life of Birds and Insects.

A companion drawing - Theater of Insects. The title is taken from a book published in 1634 - a work generally credited to Thomas Mofet but actually inherited and completed by him. Mofet did not see its publication as that final step came 30 years after his death. In this drawing there is the addition of the Moonflower which is a botanical pretender to the night sky.